Holiday when baby is born for DH 40th? is it doable ?

[Baby2018]

Does anyone have any advice on holidays post baby? Im 20 weeks due sept 25th and its my husbands 40th at the end of Dec I kind of want to do a weekend away or perhaps UK break to celebrate but Im also worried the baby will only be 3 months old.
Do you think its doable to go somewhere with a 3 month old and also (this might sound silly) do some hotels frown upon you turning up with a new baby? from a noise perspective?
This is my first baby so Ive got no idea if its possible but I also want to book now to save money ideally if I do do it

I can’t think of anything worse than been out of my own environment which such a young baby. Other people and other babies are different. Your baby will probably be less than 3 months old and it is after 3/4 months that things get easier for most people.

I think you'll be okay to take a three month old away. I'm not sure about where your baby would sleep though , travel cots are a bit grim with horrid thin mattresses so I wouldn't rely on one of those if they're available for hire.

Do think about feeding though. If you bottle feed how will you sterilise bottles in a hotel room?

We recently had a holiday with our then 5 month old , we had an apartment and used the microwave for sterilizing and put a spare single bed right by our double for ds to sleep on.

Is an apartment/cottage an option for you instead?

Hello, didn't want to read and run! Could you possibly book after baby is born, or does it absolutely need to be booked before (understand that it's cheaper to book in advance)?

The reason I ask is we had to fly to Aus when my son was little (all my family are there) and I waited to book until he was a few weeks old, when I had a vague sense of if I felt it would be possible. It can be hard to tell how you might feel / cope until after baby arrives.

That said - we did a few hotels while we were there and had no trouble, people were very accommodating so I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble there.

If you book somewhere where there is the option to book a cot and it's reasonable to expect therein that they are happy to accommodate babies.

One thing I would say though is if you are planning to have a nice meal whilst you are there consider your actual options. Typical adult evening eating times are often prime 'witching hour' for some babies at 12 weeks and you may find the last thing you want to do even if you are able to is take them into a busy restaurant.

You can of course get room service (or takeaway depending on the type of accommodation) but it's not really the same is it. Also anticipate the fact that at that age it's more common than not for them to still be waking up several times a night , especially if you breastfeed.

We took out first DD to Spain for a fortnight at 12 weeks old. It was brilliant, and slept in her bassinet next to us whilst we had dinner and went out for drinks, she slept all night (we had an apartment-type set up so was in the room next to us) and we were half board so all the main meals sorted for us. She slept for both flights and was a dream.
Just don’t ask about the holiday when she was nearly 2 and we went to Cyprus to get married - that was a VERY different story

We loved travelling with smaller babies - only gets harder as they get older! (Although dd1 had colic, which was a bit trickier).

We've not had a problem with hotels, although I'd vastly prefer an Airbnb or at least a hotel room with separate living area, as if you have a tired or light sleeping baby then when they are asleep you can sit together in the other room and have dinner or chatting instead of being stuck in the dark whispering. It also means you'll have a kitchen for storing and heating bottles if you are ffing or mixed feeding. You can search on Airbnb for one that is 'child friendly', and in my experience many of these even come with cots. Another place that's quite fun for adults too is the Landmark Trust, they have some really quirky and fun places, all with kitchens etc.

At that age i wouldn't go for somewhere with a more than a couple of hours drive as some babies hate the car at that age, and doing it in stages is trying. In my experience short flights or train trips are better than longer car trips, although are a bit more logistically challenging if you like to travel with your own car seats, cots etc. Wherever possible we've always tried to travel as light as possible, it makes life much more fun, and worst case you can buy nappies and even hire cots, car seats and prams at your destination. Or if you plan to travel lots, the Baby Bjorn travel cot is awesome and super easy.

Do it do it! We have found 6-18 months to be the most painful period for travelling, so much better to do it now 😊

I echo everything Namechcange128 says! Especially the bit about it getting harder post 6 months.

I thought you were going to say the baby would be a couple of weeks old, not 3 months! I think all being straightforward that would be fine. Babies are so small and portable at that age. You can all sleep in the same room so can sort any night crying immediately, hotels shouldn’t be bothered by that. Check they have good facilities for a baby such as cots available etc. Choose somewhere where you can either potter about nearby or maybe in a city where you can go out in small bursts and go back to the hotel if you need to. Get a baby carrier/sling so you don’t have to push a buggy around and you can sit and eat or explore while the baby naps happily on your chest. Once they are weaned and tart toddling it’s much harder in my opinion and gets easier again when they are over 3!

Actually look at Air B&B then you can have your own space with kitchen etc.

Definitely not a hotel. I would go for naice self-catering, personally. You won’t save that much booking now. Wait and see what kind of baby you get!

I think this is such a tricky one to call. My DD is almost 2, and now I look back and think "why didn't I travel loads when she was sub 6 months - it would have been so easy!".

I think that travelling with small babies is in many many ways simpler than travelling with toddlers, especially if they are still small enough to sleep anywhere. My DD was still sleeping all of every evening in a sling at that age, and so was totally portable. Now, she has a whole bedtime routine, and is very inflexible! At 3 months she was exclusively breastfed, and now I have to worry all the time about what she will eat and when.

However - when she actually was 3 months old I didn't find anything easy because it was so much harder than not having a baby at all, and I think parents of older children maybe do forget that!

It’s totally doable as long as 1. You have accommodation you are happy to spend time in, and 2. Your dh doesn’t leave you to do all the parenting because it’s his birthday.
We went to France (near biarritz) and Spain (dan Sebastian) when ds was 5 weeks, and trips to Paris, Geneva and a long weekend in Bath before he was 4 months. They are quite portable :)

Check out the Luxury Family Hotels chain. I actually think travelling with one small baby is pretty easy. Easier if you use a sling and are breastfeeding and co-sleeping. There are lots of babyfriendly holiday websites, Smith + Family, Tots to Travel, i escape family etc. Have fun!

I had a screams, nightmare baby - we went abroad to visit family when he was 4 months. Stayed in a very nice hotel. It was fabulous, and very easy.

18 month old DS2, on the other hand...

We went to my hometown when DD was about 12 weeks old. Involved a 6 to 8-hour journey in three stages. One bus and two trains. She was fine.

She slept in the middle of the bed with us.

We did have access to a kitchen though, and I don't think I would have opted for a hotel room as we were bottle feeding. We did go out all day, but I'd plan your evening dinner so you're not faced with a tired baby who won't sleep in the restaurant while you're still waiting for your dinner to arrive.

I'd definitely wait until baby is here to see how easy they are. For all you know you might get one that never cries and will sleep anywhere... or not.

It will all depend on you and your baby.

I would have been fine. We went away to a self catering cottage for a week when we had 4 month old twins, and away for 3 nights with 4 year old twins and a two week old baby. But I am very flexible about babies/babies stuff and just carry on wherever I am.

If you're going to do it, make sure you manage your/DH's expectations a bit. Going away with a young baby (well, any young kids really) is not the same as going away as a couple! It is absolutely the same monotonous hard work but just in a novel location

We went away with dd for first time at just under 4 months. It was lovely.
Booked a gorgeous hotel in Ireland and flew out for 4 days.

Enjoy

We did 2 days away when DD was 4 month old in york- stayed in an apartment and took our steriliser etc - it was when we had the bad snow and we was stuck there for another day and night as couldn't get home - luckily there was a co-op next door to buy more baby milk

If you do stay in a hotel, and you FF, just...take your own kettle.

I remember buying a travel cot to take. Even took steriliser just incase the hotel one wasn't up to scratch.

We had a beautiful suite with a lounge/bar area and I remember piling up all the Aptamil cartons and and taking a picture of how things change

Totally doable. At 3 months, you can basically strap them to you and just get on with things. I did a lot of travelling (uk, but lots in train TV), at that age, and it was absolutely fine.

Long haul. No way. Travelled with ds1 from oz to Uk and back when he was 4 months. Ugh. No space to breastfeed properly on flight. Bassinet too small for him to sleep in and he was generally out of sorts.

Short haul would have been ok with a baby of that age.

Staying in UK for break would be ok at 3 months. We did a UK holiday with DD at 7 weeks for DH’s significant birthday. I vowed never to again with such a young infant. Didn’t really get a chance to relax. 3 months and they are in a semi-routine so more manageable when away.

Many congrats OP, totally depends on the baby. DS1 would have been fine, DS2 was a different story altogether. Personally, I would wait until baby was born and then decide. Sometimes with young babies it’s easier to be at home and keep the same routine etc. The early months are very tiring. Good luck OP.

When I was pregnant with my first we booked to go to the Christmas markets in Belgium at the beginning of December - I had my son at the beginning of October.

It went ok but we were so underprepared! The best thing it did was give us confidence to keep traveling!

So much so that I travelled from Dubai to the UK with my second when he was 9 weeks old.

I think you should be fine. We had several trips away by the time my first was that age. The first was 2 nights in a hotel for a very close friends wedding when ds was 4 weeks old. It was fine. I think most hotels would be OK with a baby, but if you want something special try one of the upmarket family friendly hotels. They will provide everything you need plus probably childcare / babysitter if you want a special birthday meal. Plus if all the other guests are families, they will probably be more understanding, if your baby does cry during the night. We also rented a cottage while ds was small, it gave us more room than a hotel room, but was not quite as relaxing as we ended up self catering a lot.
As other people have said, it gets harder once they get to about 8+ months